County passes $5 vehicle registration permissive tax

CELINA- Mercer County Commissioners on Tuesday passed a countywide $5 vehicle registration permissive tax to boost revenue for local road and bridge work.

The tax will come into effect later this year with 2025 vehicle registrations, according to county engineer Jim Wiechart.

Commissioners held two public hearings on the tax on June 11 and June 20, as required by Ohio Revised Code.

A vehicle registration permissive tax is an optional tax that can be levied by counties, municipalities and/or townships.

Permissive tax revenue can be used for planning, constructing, improving, maintaining and repairing public roads, highways, streets and bridges and viaducts.

Wiechart, at the first public hearing, said he requested the tax because his office's revenue - the bulk of which comes from state and federal loans and grants, motor license fees and gas tax - is not keeping up with inflation. If enacted, the tax would generate about $235,000 annually.

"Property tax transportation investment is badly needed as resources to maintain the extensive infrastructure network are not keeping pace with the cost to maintain those assets and the needed capital investments to upgrade our system roads, Wiechart had said.   "Beyond that, there's a significant need, in particular, in our county to widen over 50% of our county roads for both safety and usability."

Overall revenue has not kept up with inflation, according to Wiechart.

"Road and bridge funds, it's a certain amount of fixed cents per gallon on gas sales and then license fees," Wiechart had said. "The revenue is not in any way keeping pace with inflation. If you look back over the last three or four years, our revenue essentially has been stagnant. Of course, the cost of doing business has dramatically increased."

He added his office plans to widen more deficient rural local roads to improve safety and usability.

The 2024 county engineering budget is $19.2 million.

"No real estate, sales or property taxes fund county road and local road bridge improvements in Mercer County," Wiechart wrote in a 2023 report. "Road user fees in the form of motor vehicle gas taxes and license fees fund our efforts."

Wiechart attempts to capture as much money as possible from competitive state and federal grants.

"The enactment of a $5 permissive license fee will not solve this long term sustainability problem," Wiechart had said. "But the enactment of it would modestly help lessen the funding shortfall at present. Further, the enactment of this permissive would modestly increase the ability of Mercer County to continue with the badly needed road widenings that are critical for the safety, growth and vitality of our county."

Statewide, there are 11 $5 levies that are available to be enacted but only six can be in effect at any time in a single taxing district, per the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

The current maximum permissive tax for vehicle registration in any single taxing district in the county is $30 per registration year, according to ODPS.

The current permissive tax rates are $15 in Burkettsville, Celina and Montezuma; and $25 in Chickasaw, Coldwater, Fort Recovery, Mendon, Rockford and St. Henry, according to the 2024 taxing district code book on the BMW website.

The current permissive tax rates for townships are $15 in Black Creek, Center, Dublin, Franklin, Granville, Liberty and Union; $20 in Butler, Gibson, Jefferson, Marion and Washington; and $25 in Hopewell and Recovery.